Players are Right About Palmer

I never claimed to be the smartest guy in the world, but I have been perplexed by the variety of opinions on Carson Palmer and his demands. What’s been fairly black and white to me since the very beginning seems to have drawn a lot of complex and diverse opinions.

Some want to dish out kudos for Palmer for “standing up” to mean old Mike Brown and the organization’s losing ways. Others simply support his right to retire or demand a trade, spending time contemplating his value on the open market (whenever there is one).

What’s most troubling for me at least, is the idea that the Bengals need Palmer to win; so much so that some fans and pundits say the team should enlist every available resource to placate the pouting signal caller and convince him to come back—even if just for one year.

Utter hogwash.

Whether Quitter Carson is an elite quarterback or not is irrelevant. Whether he can scrape together an extra win or two in 2011 in likewise immaterial. The team cannot—it must not—be held hostage by one player, no matter how important he may supposedly be.

Palmer has proven that he is no leader of men. To be willing to walk away from coaches, fans, and teammates alike, leave 50 million dollars on the table, and abandon his legacy takes a special kind of cowardice. Number nine—the franchise—has chosen to take his ball and go home, leaving his charges to fend for themselves.

For this singular reason, he can never again be allowed in the locker room or the huddle to lead a team. This has, and always will be, my position on the matter.

And I’m happy to report that those who would share a huddle with him feel the same. Cedric Benson, Tank Johnson, Adam Jones, and now Andrew Whitworth have all come out on record to state that they are more than ready to move on without the golden boy from Cali.

“To bring him back would only be detrimental to the team and to him,” Benson said. “This guy wants to be free and to soar somewhere else. Don’t lock a man down whom you know he won’t be happy if he stays.”

Whitworth, the man charged with protecting the quarterback’s blind side and who’s currently organizing team workouts agrees. “We’ve moved on” was how he put it.

Both were careful to show respect to a former teammate and friend while also expressing their point. Jones, perhaps less diplomatic, put it best.

“If Carson don’t want to be here, damn him, period, point blank,” the former Pacman said.

“I want some guys that want to play and want to win, period, point blank and that’s the end of that discussion.”

The Bengals won just four games with Palmer starting every single game last year. Not a huge hurdle to cross without him.

Once the collective bargaining agreement is resolved, old man Brown should either trade Palmer for value or let him rot and unload him next offseason. I for one am ready for the Dalton era, or even the Jordan Palmer era. I want a quarterback I can be proud of and one that 52 other guys can rally behind.

I want a quarterback who plans to lead the charge, not surrender his post when things get tough. Whit, Ced, and Jones deserve that, and so does Marvin Lewis.

as a long LONG fan from the very beginning of the franchise, i’ve attended both super bowls they were in, i have bengals memorabilia in every room of my house, from every era of the team, bengals Crush cans, unopened, signed footballs from both super bowl teams, this franchise has been my life. i at this point reading this article, and other articles like http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/28548/espn-mag-bengals-worst-sports-franchise am simply left with the thought, who cares. i don’t see how anyone that is a bengals fan can even be looking forward to a football season this year, i for one hope there isn’t one. perhaps it’s the inevitability of loss, though that’s been a long withstanding feeling so i’m going to say it’s just the latter of my thoughts: we’ve been kicked while we’re down for decades, eventually you die. i believe i’m at this point, i’d honestly rather see the team sold and move town than spend another year caring one way or the either. it isn’t the losing, it’s the lack of care of ownership. sure there’s blame everywhere from players to the top. but to make claims that palmer doesn’t want to win, or at least imply that, i don’t see it.

sure call him a quitter all you want, he clearly is a quitter, there is no other argument to be made there. but if he didn’t want to win, staying in cincinnati would be his best bet. it isn’t about the money, it’s about the same thing to him as it is to the fans, ‘whats the point’ i’m sure is bouncing around in his brain, and i have no answer to that. i can say the team has had me, and will have me forever, but i just don’t care anymore, i won’t be rooting for another team the bengals have simply managed to take the love of the NFL out of me.

wow, that is a pretty depressing comment. I am not sure how you can still be a fan if you wish there was no season. The major difference is that Palmer is compensated well for playing for the Bengals while the fans get almost nothing in return.

I bet if I offered you 100 million dollars for the next 10 years, you would be the best Bengals fan the world has ever seen. Win or lose.

I don’t feel bad for Palmer, he is part of the problem. Rather than be the leader and rally the troops he tucks his tail and looks for greener pastures.

As far as your comments about wishing there was no football, take a step back. It is a game, be a fan of that. Root for the Bengals, wish for them to win it all. If they don’t, go back to your life and don’t get so depressed. Go back and read the article I wrote about my 10 favorite moments. Watch the clip of the Bengals beating the Steelers. If that doesn’t work to get you excited then you probably are already gone.